


lights will guide you home

by grapefruitghostie



Series: VII - THE CHARIOT [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Drug Dealing, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gender Dysphoria, Insecurity, Multi, Non-Explicit Sex, Organized Crime, Polyamory Negotiations, Self-Doubt, Sugar Daddies, Trans Male Character, Transitioning, sorta - Freeform, supportive boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-01-15 20:47:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18506794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapefruitghostie/pseuds/grapefruitghostie
Summary: So, this world didn't end in eight days. Ben spent the last seven of those days holding his breath and trying to pack as much love in as possible. But, where will the three go from here - now that they have all the time in the world?





	lights will guide you home

Let Ben make one thing very crystal clear - he would not be trying to return home to his family. And, okay, maybe that was a little bit selfish, but he couldn't even bring himself to care. He was _happy_  with Klaus and Diego, and nothing was going to take them away from him. 

Ben had been dead for years, unable to touch or connect with anything - he deserved this attention that he was getting now, damnit! 

So after sleeping in the penthouse for six nights in a row, Ben asked if The Chariot might be hiring. Klaus and Deigo agreed that Lindsay could use a bit more help on night shifts. 

Thankfully, prior to his demise, Ben had taken a bar tending class. Although he didn't use what he'd learned in a work environment, he was grateful to have the knowledge and the liscence to start work right away. 

Lindsay was fun to work with, she had a goofy sense of sarcastic humor that Ben got a kick out of. She was a little spitfire, standing only five feet and one inch, throwing daggers of witty remarks at anyone at the bar who got a little _too_ excited when drunk. Lindsay could hold her own in every sense, and Ben grew to respect her very quickly. 

Ben didn't let the owners fool him, though. He knew that there was about one hundred extra dollars on his check every week, and for the first three weeks he said nothing because he was saving that money for his top surgery. 

"Hey," he started, one night as they laid in bed (Klaus, on his back with Ben's chin resting on his chest and Diego resting to their left), "how come you're giving me more than I earn? I mean, I'm not complaining, it's so amazing. But why are you guys so nice to me? Like, what are we?" 

Diego chuckled and reached out to pet his hair before simply saying, "we have the money." 

"We like you a lot, and we know you're saving up for your surgery," Klaus chimed in to elaborate. 

Ben looked at him, puzzled. "How did you know that?" 

"I overheard you talking to Linds and I told Diego," he admitted and Ben rolled his eyes, "seriously, baby, we care about you and we have the resources to help so we will." 

"So what are we?," Ben pointed out with a frown, "am I like, some young, pretty marriage-saver?" 

Diego grabbed his hand and lifted his chin to force eye contact, "don't you _ever_ think that. Ben, you're important to us. We _want_ you, and it's not because we got bored or anything like that. It's because you're lovable. Please, never doubt that." 

Ben nodded and Klaus reached out to touch his cheek, "we want you to be our boyfriend, if that's alright. We want to take care of you and love you and be _with_ you constantly. That's a promise." 

Ben was tearing up at that point, grinning and pulling back to wipe his almond eyes on Klaus's black tank top. Klaus gasped dramatically and Diego laughed, kissing his husband's cheek.

"I don't wanna lose you guys, seriously," Ben beamed, "and I would love to be your boyfriend."

Diego was the first to kiss Ben, holding his face in those big hands and pouring all the love into that one dresmy kiss. Klaus kissed him next, hauling him up to his lips and wrapped his arms around the small of man's back to keep him there. Ben giggled a bit when he pulled away, but soon dove in for more. Kissing Klaus was intoxicating. It was something like survival of the fittest, and both were too stubborn to lose (although Ben usually lost). 

Diego had slipped his hand under Ben's shirt and he shivered at the contact. He let the men strip him and kiss him and shower him with love and affection and he didn't question any of it. They stayed in bed for hours tangled up in each other and whispering endearments and praises and laughing and moaning and Ben fell in love with them so quickly.

Ben didn't ask again how they had all of the money, but he let them spoil him. More than once, he saw Diego talking to a few men in the shadows by the back door. He'd assumed it was business, though he didn't know what kind of business that might be. 

Diego told him many month's later that he oversaw 'an organization'. Whatever the hell _that_ ment. His men pushed drugs into the city, in return he let them live at the casino - no bills to pay and no nine-to-five. Diego was the head, meaning he got paid generously and was able to spoil his boys. He said that was the main reason that he didn't pass the position over to his right hand, Max. 

Max, it turned out, was one of the men that Ben had seen by the back door so many times. He stood tall, with slick, black hair an a gold ring with a green gem that he wore on his left pinky. Ben thought his stoic suit to be a bit too cliché but, then again, he fit right in with the patrons of the casino. 

He was the man directly below Diego. The underboss. The right-hand-man. Diego's cousin. The 'organization,' Diego told him, was all in the family and it would stay that way. Diego was the previous underboss, only moving up when his father was killed on the job. He had no siblings, so the job was passed to his cousin. 

To Ben, it almost sounded like the monarchy. It was all very organized and professional and Ben admired that. He didn't think of Diego differently at all when he learned about his work, in fact he respected that. He trusted that Diego and Klaus would keep him safe. 

Ben felt safe in their arms, in their bed. His head was buried into Diego's neck ome night, Klaus tracing shapes in his back with one bony finger. The afterglow was his favourite place to be, body limp and messy and tired and brain all mushy. He pressed lazy kisses to the family crest that was tatooed on Diego's chest and hummed a quiet tune until the three fell asleep.


End file.
